By James Manning

Seven West Media CEO Tim Worner presented the first-half results this week as the channel faced life as #2 in commercial revenue share for the first time since 2005.

He told Mediaweek the network is keen to get back on top and be a clear #1 in ratings and ad share.

“We didn’t do our best in the first half just reported in either ratings or revenue – our programming and sales teams and I think we can do better. We have a group of people here who are very fired up about proving they can do better.

“We have been in this situation before where we have been challenged and we have been able to respond. Now we are building our response again and I have to say we are really pleased with the way we have started. Now we just need to maximise that momentum.”

Seven will milk that momentum on Sunday night when it launches its much-anticipated Australian Spartan followed by the Winter Games closing ceremony.

With a mix of sporting events, reality and drama, Seven should dominate much of the first half of calendar 2018. However there seem to be still some question marks about how Seven might go July 2018 onwards.

“There will be questions marks until such time that we roll the shows out and we see how they go,” responded Worner.

“We have taken a far more strategic approach to our second half, which is something that we noted at our allfronts. We are very happy with the progress we have made on those shows.”

Seven is using the Commonwealth Games as a launching pad for some of its new shows, some of which run into Q3 as well.

As to quarantining the audience from another round of cost cutting, Worner said he didn’t think that would be a problem.

“There are a couple of things we need to preserve. This gets to the art of managing a modern media company – trimming your costs for your sales to match what is going on in the market, but preserving the quality of your storytelling and preserving your capacity to service your customers.”

Is Worner staying with Seven?

“My contract is a rolling contract and as I understand it there is 12 months’ notice on either side. There is lot more interest in my contract out there than there is in here,” said Worner when we asked about his future with the media company.

“I am very fired up about the future and I am firing up the team around me. We do have a challenge and we have made a good start.”

Asked again if he expected to be staying with Seven, Worner replied: “I certainly haven’t been given any indication to the contrary. I am on a rolling contract so I will be around in one form or another for the next little while.

“I don’t allow that to characterise the way that we work here. We know what we have to do.”

AFLX: Something to build on

Although Worner thought there were a few issues around the colour of the ball and the time of year the new AFL spinoff occupies, he thought there was certainly something to build on.

“Some of the venues could have been better. But I really enjoyed it and I think it has enormous potential.

“I loved the BT and James Brayshaw commentary combination. There is a chance they will work together again this year.”

Worner admitted the timing last weekend didn’t suit Seven. “With a better time it will get a much higher profile and a bigger audience.”

• News Corp launches biggest-ever consumer campaign: We’re For You
• News Corp’s We’re For You: Campaign plan + Christopher Dore letter extract
• News Corp’s We’re For You: Securing the editors’ support for the campaign
• News Corp’s We’re For You: Securing Lennon & McCartney’s “A Day In The Life”

By James Manning

Measuring success

Brand awareness will be an important measure of how the ad worked, but the cash register will be important too, Phillips told Mediaweek.

“This campaign is two things – we have to build our brand. We probably don’t suffer from a brand awareness problem though. Most people know who we are and what we do.

“We have to absolutely maintain and ensure our brands our relevant. We track that to make sure we still engage with our customer base.

“But absolutely we have to make certain this drives sales. We are in the business of selling what we produce, which pays for all our wonderful journalists… and people like me!”

The campaign goes wide from Sunday February 25 with a new We’re For You television commercial, which has a tailored version created for each state’s news brand.

There will also be an outdoor advertising campaign across the transit network in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane as well as a radio and cinema campaign.

“It was very appropriate that we would launch the campaign for our business within our own mastheads,” said Phillips.

“Big companies like ours can launch great brands in print. We have started off with the editors committing to our customers, telling them what we are doing for them.”

Phillips this week noted that, in his current role and in previous marketing positions, price is only one factor when it comes to a buying decision. “It is all about emotional drivers,” he told Mediaweek.

“More people make a decision to go to a supermarket based on the emotional proposition than they do on the price proposition.”

We’re For You campaign credits:

Client: News Corp Australia
Chief Marketing Officer: Tony Phillips
General Manager Metro & Regional Marketing: Bettina Brown
Head of Brand and Media Services: Louise Davis
Agency: Big Red
Print and Digital Production: News Corp Australia Creative Services

Images: Further executions of the News Corp print ads across Australia this week telling readers about their products

Held at the Commonwealth Golf Club, the Herald Sun Classic supported the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal through a “Notables in the Field” Playing Partner Auction, where guests bid to tee off with former Australian professional tennis player Sam Groth or putt up a storm with former AFL player David King.

Over $160k worth of prizes were presented from event sponsors TaylorMade, Mercedes-Benz, X-Golf, NewsVideo, Herald Sun and the Commonwealth Golf Club. Unfortunately no-one managed to score a hole-in-one on the seventh hole, as they would have received a Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe to the value of $75,000. Players won TaylorMade Golf Clubs, a Herald Sun advertising package valued at $50,000 and a News Video production package valued at $5,000.

News Corp Australia managing director Victoria & Tasmania publishing Peter Zavecz said: “We were proud to have hosted the inaugural Herald Sun Classic. It was a great way for us to say thank you to our valued clients who are passionate about their golf, and with the incredible support of our sponsors we raised some much-needed funds for the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal.”

The Herald & Weekly Times and Good Friday Appeal Chairman Penny Fowler said: “The Good Friday Appeal has been part of the Herald Sun for the past 86 years. Our association with the GFA stretches back to 1931 when a group of journalists organised a sporting carnival fundraiser, supported by then HWT managing director, Sir Keith Murdoch.

“Reflecting that spirit with a new sporting initiative, we were delighted to invite our corporate partners to support us in fundraising for this important Victorian cause.”

The Herald Sun Classic concluded in style with a luncheon, prize presentation and, with the 2018 AFL season approaching, a special AFL discussion panel featuring Mick Malthouse, Matthew Lloyd and David King.

Industry executives commended the event. Sean Salem, client operations director at Carat Melbourne, said: “It was a great opportunity to network with our industry peers in a relaxed environment. Thanks to News Corp Australia, Commonwealth Golf Club, the sponsors who gave us some incredible prizes to play for, and the journos and footy experts who put on a great discussion panel after the round.”

Rush HQ director Trevine Ludowyke said: “The Herald Sun Classic was the most well-organised Corporate Golf Day that I have ever had in my 22 years of work experience both locally and internationally, from organising golf professional Mark Allen, who I had the privilege to play with, through to the generosity of time given to the event (in support of the Good Friday Appeal) by Mick Malthouse, Matthew Lloyd and David King with a live footy panel. Herald Sun, you have a great team that your executive team should be extremely proud of.”

Tom Heddon, digital director at Spark Foundry, said: “It was an absolute pleasure to be invited to play in the Herald Sun Classic for a charity close to all Victorians’ hearts, the Good Friday Appeal. The event was impressively run from start to finish on a magnificent course.”

Cbac Media director Caroline Burrowes said: “The Herald Sun Classic was thoroughly enjoyable, a great opportunity to network and was run by an enthusiastic and professional team. The opportunity to contribute to the Good Friday Appeal capped off a stellar day.”

Jennifer Carroll, investment director at Mindshare, said: It was lovely to be able to spend a morning raising much-needed funds for the Good Friday Appeal, with great company, all on one of Melbourne’s most spectacular courses. A huge thank you to the Herald Sun for hosting such a successful event.”

News Corp’s Peter Zavecz on his way to the 19th hole

The Winning Team Jon Ralph (Herald Sun), Dexter Prack (Harcourts Glen Waverley), Brad Granger (Leader), Thomas Sorenson (Melbourne City Football Club).

HS Classic Mick Malthouse, Matthew Lloyd from the Herald Sun Classic AFL Panel

HS Classic Ben Hall (LK Property Group), Penny Fowler (HWT Chairman), Simon Kelly (News Corp Australia), Justin Kestelman (NBL)

HS Classic Patrick Byrne (Herald Sun), Darren Mehl (Resimax), Nic Cuni & Daniel Jabornik (Est8 Agency)

HS Classic Michael Hauser (Visit Victoria), Caroline Burrowes (Cbac Media), Tonia Duggan (Herald Sun)

The exclusive unveiling was a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the iconic Cartoon Network show in Australia, and part of Peter Alexander’s Wanna Play collection.

Media and executives in attendance included Turner’s GM Robi Stanton and ad sales director Melissa Fitzgerald, Foxtel’s Marianna Sarkis and Sabina Guzel, Lego’s Ashlee Stojcevski and Kaete Gardener, and K-Zone / Total Girl’s Aaron Streatfeild.

“We are so excited to be working with Peter Alexander to highlight the enduring legacy of the show and the girlpower it embodies,” said Robi Stanton, General Manager of Turner Australia. “This colourful pop-culture collection highlights both the incredible bond between sisters, and just like The Powerpuff Girls, the PJ’s are completely super-cute and super-fierce!”

With more than A$3 billion in retail sales generated globally since its original debut, The Powerpuff Girls is one of the most enduring and top-grossing Cartoon Network brands of all time. Over the years, Cartoon Network has teamed with a roster of more than 150 global licensing partners across toys, apparel, publishing and themed entertainment, among others.

Ursula and Aspen Sneesby, wife and daughter of Stan CEO Mike Sneesby

Lego’s Ashlee Stojcevski and Kaete Gardener + Turner’s Ad Sales Director Melissa Fitzgerald

Turner’s GM Robi Stanton with daughters Coco and Harper + Marquee’s Andrew Brentnall and Nate Branley

By Andrew Mercado

The story actually starts six years earlier to explain what a long fight it was for recognition, not to mention lesbians and gay men in-fighting with each other.

TV history gets a look in here too, with mentions of Chequerboard and Number 96, and a sequence that will hopefully clear up once and for all which Australian show featured TV’s first gay kiss (hint: it wasn’t 96). The script can be fascinating and funny but quickly turn shocking whenever it shows police brutality and discrimination of the day, which was once considered the norm.

The cast of Riot is headed by Damon Herriman and Kate Box, and what a joy it is to finally see these two in leading roles, given both so regularly play supporting characters. A hospital bedside scene between them should be used to highlight both performances when it comes time to hand out awards in acting excellence this year.

All of this serves as a warm-up to SBS’s coverage of this year’s parade, which will air on Sunday March 4. While it is sad not to see former host Julie McCrossin in the mix, given she was one of the original 78ers, let’s hope she was at least asked and perhaps has chosen to be in the parade, alongside the other 78ers.

Instead, the gravitas will be supplied by host Magda Szubanski after her popular and leading role in last year’s same-sex marriage campaign. She will be joined by Urzila Carlson, Joel Creasey and The Feed’s Patrick Abboud, whose pre-recorded packages have always been excellent. Breaking from the parade for Abboud’s poignant stories has often made up for previous hosts, some of whom have been over-excited and not really qualified. Last year, Em Rusciano was there because she was a “gay man trapped in a straight woman’s body who looked like a lesbian”. Um, that’s as big a stretch as much of the lycra parading past so hopefully this year’s hosting lineup is more authentic.

Urzila Carlson has been killing it on TV recently with some hilarious appearances on Have You Been Paying Attention? and Hughesy, We Have A Problem. But can we pay attention to a problem in that she appears to be Melbourne-based? Has she ever attended the Sydney event before? There is nothing worse than a commentator squealing about being a “Mardi Gras virgin”.

Then again, everyone is an expert on TV these days and experience is rarely a requirement. But at least TV gays are no longer restricted to just being Hollywood gossip queens. Will & Grace is back on Stan, Queer Eye has been re-booted for Netflix and Family Guy’s Stewie could be about to come out in a special two-parter featuring Sir Ian McKellan. There is also – finally – going to be a gay in Summer Bay and even Alf is flamin’ happy about welcoming a flamer into the show. So let’s hope The Daily Telgeraph, which famously torpedoed a H&A gay kiss back in 2009, might be too busy this time being “shocked” about a one-year-old gay baby on Family Guy. Sounds like it could be time for another Riot.

Photo: Damon Herriman and Kate Box

Aussie comedian’s iflix special

Australian comedian Jon Atherton will deliver laughs for iflix’s first original comedy special, titled Jon Atherton: Disoriental. The 60-minute special follows Atherton’s misadventures in Asia, where he’s lived and worked for close on 20 years. Atherton is fluent in multiple Asian languages and iflix bills him as “one of Australia’s most successful comedy exports, with an illustrious career in television and theatre across Australia, Asia and Africa”. Atherton appeared in iflix’s first Malaysian original series, Oi! Jaga Mulut. Disoriental was filmed in Kuala Lumpur, and produced by Double Vision, a provider of new media content, applications and services with production hubs in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Aussie editor-in-chief quits Khmer Times

Long-term Aussie expat Alan Parkhouse has quit as editor- in-chief of the Phnom Penh-based Khmer Times English language daily, effective at the end of this month. He says he is returning to Sydney for family reasons. Parkhouse’s first taste of working in Southeast Asia was in 1974 when he finished his apprenticeship as a compositor, and travelled and filed features on Laos and for the Sydney Daily Telegraph, where his father was news editor.

In 1991 he returned to the region, signing on as a sports section senior sub-editor for The Nation in Bangkok, and in 1994 he worked as a sports sub on the Eastern Express in Hong Kong. In 1995 he joined the Asia Times in Bangkok, which went spectacularly bust in 1997. In 2002, returned to The Nation in Bangkok as sports editor, then became chief sub-editor of the Sunday Bangkok Post in 2007. In 2011 he joined the Phnom Penh Post, rising to editor-in-chief, then in 2014 it was back Sunday Bangkok Post as senior editor, and finally in 2016 he joined the Khmer Times as editor-in-chief.

Pictured top: Alan Parkhouse with Hun Many, the PM’s youngest son and a member of parliament

Hong Kong broadcaster premiere Luke Fiascos’ Chinese docuseries

Hong Kong’s Celestial Tiger Entertainment announced that the highly anticipated docuseries Beat N Path will world premiere on March 8 on Celestial’s action entertainment channels KIX and KIX HD. The docuseries follows US Grammy award-winning hip hop artist Lupe Fiasco as he embarks on a cross-cultural journey of epic proportion across China. In the pilot series, he lives out his other passion – martial arts – practising with Kung Fu Masters throughout China, while also taking the opportunity to explore China’s burgeoning hip hop scene.

Singapore Airlines inflight magazine moves

Ink Singapore has been given the contract by Singapore Airlines to relaunch its inflight magazine, SilverKris, wresting the business from Singapore Press Holdings, which had worked with the airline for 15 years. Ink said it will relaunch SilverKris as an “inspiring, globally minded publication” in May 2018.

About 55,000 copies of SilverKris magazine will be produced monthly, with a minimum profit guarantee to the airline at the end of the contract term. In addition, Ink will revamp the airline’s travel inspiration website and app, SilverKris.com.

Asian deals signed at BBC Worldwide Showcase

BBC Worldwide has made a series of announcements from its Showcase 18 TV market in Liverpool, including news that an Indian version of the popular sitcom The Office is to be made in New Delhi. BBC Worldwide also said that leading South Korean broadcaster MBC (Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation) will be making a local version of the multi-award winning series Luther, starring Idris Elba, to premiere in late October.

Idris Elba in Luther

In addition to a South Korean version of Luther, local versions of hit BBC series Mistresses and Life on Mars will also premiere on South Korean TV this year. BBC Worldwide also signed a deal with MIGU Video, China Mobile’s video platform, that will see more than 2,200 hours of BBC content from factual, lifestyle and preschool genres available to more than 856 million China Mobile subscribers.

BBC strengthens its Myanmar presence

BBC Worldwide Asia has signed a deal with CANAL+ Myanmar FG to see four BBC channels launch on CANAL’S new pay-TV platform. The BBC channels are BBC World News, BBC Earth, CBeebies and BBC Lifestyle, which is making its Myanmar debut. CANAL+ Group, in collaboration with Myanmar’s FOREVER media group launched the new pay-TV platform on January 29.

More funding for Myanmar’s ShweProperty

An unnamed London-based existing investor has led a seven-figure funding round for Myanmar property classifieds site ShweProperty to enable it to increase its local operations. The funding round was joined by Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures and Kevin Goos, ShweProperty managing director and previously CEO of Century 21 Cambodia.

New Straits Times company restructures management

Media Prima’s New Straits Times Press has restructured its senior management lineup, as it steps up its digital transformation push. Heading the list of senior personnel changes is Yushaimi Maulud Yahaya, who is the new editor-in-chief of the company’s three titles, New Straits Times, Berita Harian, Harian Metro, and other digital titles. Yushaimi has been the group editor of New Straits Times since March 2017. Before that he was editor-in-chief of the Malay Mail and group editorial adviser of the Redberry Group.

Baidu to list video streamer iQiyi in the US

China’s big tech Baidu plans to list its video streaming service iQiyi on a US exchange, and the company has submitted draft registration documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The planned listing will give Netflix-like iQiyi vital funding to fend off competition from larger rivals Tencent and Alibaba, and to fund more video acquisitions and productions.

Chinese media gaining foothold in Cambodia

Canada’s The Globe and Mail reports that Chinese media is firmly entrenching itself in Cambodia, noting that in early 2017 a memorandum of understanding on information cooperation was signed, resulting in Cambodians being granted scholarships to study journalism in China. September last year also saw the launch of NICE TV in Cambodia, a result of a partnering between Cambodia’s Interior Ministry and Chinese firm NICE Culture Investment Group, based in the southern Chinese province of Guangxi.

Mediaweek Asia: In brief

• French-headquartered music streamer Deezer has upped its presence in Southeast Asia, announcing on Wednesday that it had struck a partnership deal with Singtel in Singapore. On February 1 it announced an exclusive partnership with Hutchison 3 Indonesia (Tri) which claims 59.2 million subscribers, 80% of whom are millennials.

• Czech-headquartered social media marketing platform Socialbakers will again host Engage, a summit for social media and digital marketing professionals in Bali, in partnership with Indonesia’s leading telecom provider Telkomsel. Engage will be held on March 1-3 at the Grand Hyatt Bali resort. Tina Moore from New Zealand Media and Entertainment will be one of many speakers.

• The Washington Post is opening a bureau in Hong Kong, which appears to be home to only one journalist. Foreign editor Douglas Jehl said, “The Hong Kong-based correspondent will allow us to turn a closer eye to Southeast Asia.”

• News and entertainment aggregator NewsDog – owned by Hong Kong-based Hacker Interstellar – is in talks to raise US$35-40 million from Tencent, though neither party has commented. NewsDog has 40 employees in offices in Hong Kong and India, where it is now one of India’s top three news and entertainment apps, competing with UC News, owned by Tencent rival Alibaba Group.

• Thai pay-TV broadcaster TrueVisions plans to broadcast in 4K this year, starting with World Cup 2018 in June and July. The Olympic Games 2020 will also be broadcast in 4K.

• Cambodian journalists have launched an online campaign and petition calling on the courts to drop charges against two former Radio Free Asia journalists, Uon Chhin and Yeang Sothearin, who were arrested in November for allegedly secretly producing news for RFA.

• Malaysia’s Redberry Media Group has appointed Tho Tuck Who as its new CEO. He will be responsible for the overall management and operations of the companies within the Redberry Media Group, which include Focus Media Network, Point Cast Media, Redberry Ambient, Meru Utama, Redberry Outdoors, Redberry Retail, Ten Plus and Titanium Compass.

• Turner has hired two new execs for its Asia-Pacific finance team under CFO, Clement Schwebig. David Liu, formerly finance head for NBA Asia and India, has been appointed senior finance director at regional headquarters in Hong Kong, and Joseph Tan, formerly finance director of Publicis Communications Singapore, joins as finance director for Southeast Asia operations based in Singapore.

David Liu and Joseph Tan

• Singapore-based HRM Asia has been sold by American company Diversified Communications to Florida-based LRP Publications, and Human Resource Executive Magazine. HRM Asia targets the APAC HR sector with a multiplatform network including digital content, events and a print publication, HRM Asia Magazine. Diversified Communications is the company that recently purchased Mumbrella.

• US-based mobile studio app Musical.ly will merge with its Chinese counterpart Tik Tok. This follows full acquisition by Tik Tok’s parent company ByteDance at the end of 2017.

• iflix has collaborated with one of Vietnam’s largest mobile network operators, Viettel Telecom. All prepaid and postpaid Viettel subscribers will gain three months’ unlimited access to iflix. The deal is sponsored by Viettel, which has almost 70 million subscribers in Vietnam. iflix this week also premiered its first two original programs in Bangladesh – a 40-minute telefilm Madventure and five-part web series Half.

By Peter Olszewski

Minh Bui Jones’s Mekong Review eschews the modern notion of multiplatform publishing, embracing print as the major medium in the way that, say, Tyler Brûlé’s Monocle rejoices in the medium at the other end of the economic scale.

Print is Bui Jones’s thing, and in December he told The New York Times, “There is something, for me anyway, rather magisterial about this tactile form.”

With the stock alone, Bui Jones tells Mediaweek that he spent a lot of time with his initial printer in Phnom Penh to get it right.

“It’s immensely important: the colour, the feel,” he says, “Initially the paper was sourced from Vietnam and that proved tricky on one occasion.”

Last year Bui Jones switched to a Malaysian printer and says, “The new printer in Penang, Phoenix Press, is fantastic. Hon, who is the manager there, has worked with the same company for more than 30 years and he knows his stuff. He has two old Heidelbergs at the entrance to the printing floor. Almost cried when I saw them, gorgeous machines and kept in good nick, too.”

But for Bui Jones, print presents problems that have bedeviled and defeated many publishers who have tried to penetrate the assorted countries and markets that comprise the region.

A top problem is the physical distribution, as attested by bugs that beset Bui Jones’s most recent edition.

“The wheels have come off our delivery operation, literally,” Bui Jones reported on Facebook. A delivery truck’s pallet carrying fresh copies overturned on the highway between Penang and Kuala Lumpur.

The print copies were repacked and reloaded but the delivery schedule was shot.

“All of which means our finely calibrated delivery schedule is now in disarray,” wrote Bui Jones. “A friend, who has kindly flown to KL to take copies to Phnom Penh, will leave empty-handed later today. My flight to PP is scheduled for Monday morning, too early for the truck delivery, which in turn means the bus leaving from PP to Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday morning will arrive sans Mekong Review, ditto the flight from HCMC to Los Angeles.”

Bui Jones was born in Vietnam and came to Australia in 1978 as a boat refugee. He began his media career in TV as a researcher and producer for SBS. He worked as a journalist at The Sydney Morning Herald, then later founded or co-founded four magazines focusing on Asian current affairs, including The Diplomat in 2001.

He moved to Cambodia with his family in 2009, but in January 2016 he returned to Australia, shortly after launching the Mekong Review at the Kampot Writers and Readers Festival in Cambodia on November 7 2015.

Originally, the Review’s market was the five Mekong countries but Bui Jones says that, as interesting as they are, these countries cannot sustain an English-language magazine for long.

“The trap was that we’d be recycling stories and ideas within a couple of years,” he says. “For instance, how many times can you handle reading about Hun Sen? Or on street food in Vietnam?”

Expansion was inevitable and Bui Jones says, “In the middle of 2017 we started sending copies to Malaysia and Singapore. They are now our second and third largest market. In Singapore we are in all the Kinokuniya stores, the WHSmith outlets at Changi International Airport, and a handful of independent bookshops.”

Continued at mediaweek.com.au.

Top photo: Minh Bui Jones (Creditr: Jim Mizerski)

By James Manning

With no Married At First Sight to contend with last night, Seven ran away with the night with a big lead.

TEN had its best survey night in the past two weeks with Gogglebox and I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! both close to 600,000.

Seven

Just one episode again this week of Home and Away to let Seven’s cooking show screen for another night. Home and Away ended its week on 646,000 after 645,000 on Wednesday.

The final instant restaurant for My Kitchen Rules group 2 was Sonya and Hadil. The girls performed brilliantly, scoring perfects 10s from both judges with entrée and mains. Dessert of knafeh saw judges’ scores of seven and eight, but it was still enough for them to finish on top of group 2. The episode posted the program’s biggest audience for the week – 1.11m – up on 947,000 from Thursday last week.

Night 13 of the Winter Olympics did 723,000 after 891,000 a week ago.

Nine

Nine programmed reality and a movie after A Current Affair with RBT and then the 2015 movie Jurassic World.

A Current Affair did 791,000.

RBT was up against MKR and did 545,000 followed by the movie on 354,000.

TEN

Steve Price announced on The Project that he is South Africa-bound tomorrow to again enter the jungle on I’m A Celebrity. One of the most successful and more popular stars of 2017 will be back on screen this Sunday night. Meanwhile last night The Project 7pm was on 460,000.

I’m A Celebrity without Steve Price continued last night with KFC getting its share of publicity as they gobbled it up. The episode did 595,000 after 579,000 a week ago.

The Gogglebox critics were on just after 9pm. Among the shows on offer were Nine’s MAFS and Blue Planet II plus Lifestyle’s 24 Hours In Emergency. The audience was 629,000 after 651,000 last week. Gogglebox was the channel’s most-watched program last week.

ABC

Call The Midwife had the early 8pm slot with 431,000.

The 90-minute factual drama Against The Law told the story of gay British journalist Peter Wildeblood who fought against legislation which made homosexuality a crime and did 160,000.

SBS

After a shortish period out of the schedule, Michael Portillo is back in a big way with 254,000 watching two episodes of Great British Railway Journeys. There are another two episodes tonight making it three successive nights of the format at 7.30pm.

The final part of Muslims Like Us Australia did 185,000 with a trip to Manly and much debate in the house about the various branches of Islam. The show did 185,000.